Poinsettia plant named Lilo

ABSTRACT

A new Poinsettia cultivar, distinguished by intense dark red bracts and intense dark green foliage with self-branching characteristics, is described herein. The new plant produces a very desirable pinched, branched flowering potted plant. Equally desirable, the new plant is resistant to become epinastic after being confined to shipping containers, and recovers rapidly if the plant does become epinastic. The post-production foliage and bract retention is excellent even under low light intensities in the consumer&#39;s home.

BACKGROUND OF THE NEW PLANT

This new Poinsettia originated as a seedling produced by crossingseedling parents of unknown origin. I selected this new Poinsettia fromamong many seedlings which resulted from the breeding program beingconducted in my greenhouses in Encinitas, Calif., and I was attracted tothis seedling because of several desirable traits. Particularly becausethe color of the bracts is an intense dark red and the foliage is anintense dark green. The plant is also unique in two aspects. Unlikeother poinsettias with intense dark coloration, this new variety isself-branching and produces a very desirable pinched plant. Equallydesirable, the plant is resistant to becoming epinastic after beingconfined in shipping containers during the marketing process. Ipropagated this plant by cuttings through successive generations andfind it has retained all of these desirable traits from generation togeneration and they appear to be firmly fixed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

My new variety of Poinsettia is illustrated by the accompanyingphotographic drawings sheet one of which has two views in full color theupper one of which shows a full face view of the flower clusters andsurrounding bracts and the lower view shows a typical potted plant infull bloom, sheet two is an enlarged print of the upper view of sheetone, which has been hand painted to show the true bract colors; thecolor rendition in both views of sheet one being as close to that hereinspecified as is reasonably possible to obtain by conventionalphotographic procedures.

DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW PLANT

The following is a detailed description of this new Poinsettia varietyas observed in my greenhouse at Encinitas, Calif., during December 1986,with color designations according to The R.H.S. Colour Chart publishedin 1966 by The Royal Horticultural Society at London, England.

THE PLANT

Origin: Seedling.

Classification:

Botanic.--Euphorbia pulcherrima.

Form: Shrub.

Height: Medium.

Growth habit: As a single stem, upright and vigorous with manyself-branching side shoots. May require a growth regulator. I haveobserved single stem plants with an average height of about 45-50 cm.and an overall bract presentation diameter of about 35 cm.

Branching: Upright with many stems producing a bushy, full appearance.Pinched plants with five branches and an overall height of 35-40 cm. hadflowers with an overall bract presentation diameter of about 25-30 cm.

Growth rate: Very fast. Rooting occurs in 12-18 days under intermittentmist. The plant will bloom in about nine weeks under continuous longnight conditions and night temperatures of about 16-18 degrees C. duringOctober and November. Flowering may be somewhat delayed and bract colornot as intense at higher temperatures.

Foliage: The foliage is clean and uniformly dark green from bottom totop of the plant. The leaves are of medium size, leaf blades typicallybeing about 10-14 cm. long and about 8-10 cm. wide with leaf petiolesabout 5-7 cm. long.

Leaf shape: Typical leaves vary from ovate with entire leaf margins tobroad ovate with weakly developed lobes.

Color:

Upper side.--Darker than RHS 131A

Under side.--Near RHS 139A.

Retention: The foliage lasts extremely well even under low lightintensities in the consumer's home. Leaf retention is better than thePoinsettia `Annette Hegg Dark Red` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 3,160).

Bracts: Generally there are 18-21 uniformly colored bracts of varioussizes subtending the cyathia. The primary bracts have blades typically12-15 cm. long and 7-9 cm. wide with petioles about 2-4 cm. long.

Shape: Ovate to elliptic to obovate, with mostly entire leaf margins,but occasionally weakly lobed.

Color:

Upper side.--Darker than RHS 46B, near RHS 46A.

Under side.--Darker than RHS 45D, near RHS 45C.

I claim:
 1. The new and distinctive Poinsettia cultivar and partsthereof, substantially as herein shown and described, distinguished byintense dark red bracts and intense dark green leaves, a self-branchinghabit, its resistance to epinasty during post-production handling, andits extraordinary ability to retain its foliage in the consumer's home.